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How to follow the 2013 Giro Rosa

The Giro Rosa is the biggest women’s stage race of the year, running 30th June – 7th July 2013, the only race left of the calendar that the UCI allows to run for over a week. Formerly known as the Giro Donne, the race nearly disappeared this year, so although it’s only eight days rather than the usual nine or ten, we’re delighted it’s going ahead. There is so much competition here, whether it’s riders racing for the overall General Classification, or for stage wins and minor jerseys – that just finishing the race is an impressive achievement in itself. So if you want to follow it, here’s my guide to watching it online, following it on twitter, and much more!

Information about the race

There is a ton of information about the race on the excellent race website, which you can read in Italian or Spanish. They’ll put the results, daily press releases, photos and videos up there, as well as the usual information like stage profiles etc.

If you’d like more than that, there are some excellent race previews around. I like Cyclopunk’s preview on Les Déesses de la Route for a narrative profile, and Sean’s more stats-y profiles on Velofocus, especially as he’s mapped all the stages onto Googlemaps, with streetviews of the finishing sections – and his profiles look a bit different to the race organisers’. That’s fine, one of the idiosyncrasies of the Giro are how every year there are stages with surprise hills – but canny racers should take a look.

For some history, check out Sean’s post on previous Giro winners on Velofocus.

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Video and streaming

One of the best things about the race is that this gets an hour of coverage on RAI Sport 2 every day, so we see a lot of the action. On Sunday 30th June, there’s a longer programme, starting at 17:50 CEST, and then it’s 20:00 every day (which works out at 7pm BST, 2pm USA Eastern, 11am USA Pacific, and 4am the next day in Sydney – sorry Aussies!)

There’s also a 10 minute highlights programme at the end of RAI Sport 2’s daily Tour de France coverage.

If you’re not in Italy, you can check whether you can see the RAI coverage by clicking here. Will there be streaming if you can’t see that? Have a look on your favourite streaming sites (or maybe ask them if they’re planning to stream), or come by the daily stage posts we’ll have on Podium Café, and if you find any streams, let us know!

The good news is that we tend to get a good amount of video from the race every year. When it was the Giro Donne, the race organisers had a great youtube account where they posted daily short highlights clips – and if the amount of video we’ve seen from the Giro Rosa team we’ve already seen is anything to go by, we’ll get more of the same on the Giro Rosa youtube – where you’ll find the official 2013 Giro Rosa song:

The RAI coverage also tends to make it’s way to youtube, and again, look to the daily articles and comments here, because people are lovely about sharing – and, as always, keep an eye on the video page on Cycling Fever. I’ll do daily posts with just the videos here, too.

Following the race live

If you want live coverage of the race, turn to twitter. The race twitter, @GiroRosa2013 is an excellent account, tweeting in English and Italian, and sharing everything they find. They really love their fans, so if you have any questions, just ask them!

Sean Velofocus will be at the race! He’s very excited, and I’m really happy for (and jealous of) him. Follow his adventures via his twitter – have the very best time, Sean!

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Daily race reports

Over on Podium Café, I’ll be doing my best to have daily race reports. These will start with the information we find around the internet, and then as the evenings go on, will be updated with any video, photos, or more news. You can find them on the front page of the Café, or the women’s cycling section or use the Giro Rosa storystream, where all the stories will be added. One of the best things about the Café is the community, so make sure you check out the comments for everything people find, and general discussion.

The reports I look forward to most come from CJ Farquharson, who takes most of the photographs you see of women’s racing. She will have daily reports on her womenscycling.net with results and photos, and more photos on her CJFoto site – and you can follow her on twitter.

Following the riders through the Giro

The women’s peloton is full of intelligent, witty, funny riders who love their social media, and with the extra-long transfers this year, there should be a lot of updates. Sean at VeloFocus has a Social Startlist, with links to the blogs and twitters of the riders racing this year – and over the weekend, I’ll be updating my Giro Rosa twitter list.

On Podium Café, we’ll be having a regular Q&A with ORICA riders Jessie Maclean and Amanda Spratt, and if you have questions you’d like me to ask, throughout the race, ask them in the comments of each daily article, or the comments here.

I’ve also been asking riders what they are hoping for in the race, and you can read the articles here:

Part 1, with Annemiek van Vleuten, Marijn de Vries, Ashleigh Moolman, Lauren Kitchen and Carmen Small

We’ll be catching up with some of the first-time riders in the middle of the race, and after it’s finished, so if you have any questions for Giro newbies, ask in the comments.

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If there’s anything you think I’ve forgotten, or would like to know more about, ask me in the comments! If you’ve never followed women’s cycling, this is the perfect place to start, so no questions are too basic. I’ll mostly be talking on Podium Café, where women’s cycling fans love helping people find out more about the sport we love, so please don’t hesitate to join in – we’re very friendly indeed. Or ask me any questions here or on twitter. I can’t wait to follow the race with you!